Monday, October 29, 2012

Puttin' up Apple Butter

Hello all,
  Isn't fall just a wonderful time of the year?  I love it!  Fall colors, sweater weather, spiced tea, hot apple cider and apple everything!  My family, especially my oldest son, loves apple butter and hot biscuits for breakfast. Well, DS #1 loves them anytime of the day, but I digress. So I decided to make my family very happy by making  some homemade apple butter for them!
  I love the canning instructions and recipes on  http://www.pickyourown.org.  They are so easy to understand and have great pics. So if you are interested in making it for the first time, I highly recommend them.  I am not affiliated with them, just love the site!  Here are some pics of my puttin' up Apple butter:

Thickening up!
 
Sterilizing jars in oven.
Every jar pinged.  Brings a smile to my face everytime!
 
Homemade Fall goodness for my Family!
 
Blessings,
Lisa
My

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Great deal on peppers to dry!

Today I found a great brgain at our local Meijer--I bought 9 green peppers for just $2.84.  They were in the reduces section but were still in good shape!  I bought them up and am drying them to use later.
     I am using my Nesco dehydrator and I just love it. Here are pics of the process:
Here are the last 4 of them--I started before taking pics!
                       Wash and slice them into skinny strips.  Don't you just love my knife! 
Place on drying racks.
Put lid/fan on and set to 145 degrees and plug in for about 8-10 hours.
 
Viola!  Dried peppers to use all winter long!
 
Blessings,
Lisa
 

 

Friday, October 26, 2012

Easy Pumpkin Muffins



Here is a recipe I have been making this fall for my pumpkin loving family:

Easy pumpkin Muffins

1 box yellow or spice cake mix
1  15oz. can pumpkin
2 eggs
2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/4 cup pecans (optional)
Sugar in the raw

Mix cake mix, pumpkin, eggs, spices and pecans together.  Scoop into cupcake liners ( mix does not raise much so fill liners up), sprinkle Sugar in the Raw on top and bake at 350 degrees for15 -20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Makes 15 muffins.

Enjoy!

Blessings,
Lisa

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Herb of the Week

                  

Free Herb ClipartThyme, a very popular and well known culinary herb, is very versatile.  It is great in salads, soups, breads, meats and veggies.  Very easy to grow, Thyme thrives in a hot, sunny, well drained location and is drought tolerant. So why isn’t everyone growing this wonderful herb?  No excuses…plan on putting it in your herb garden in the spring!

 Fresh thyme is sweetest if picked just as flowers appear and can be stored in a baggie in the bottom of the frig or in a glass of water on the frig shelf. When using fresh thyme, strip the leaves off of the stem (it can be woody sometimes) with your fingers or place the stem between the tines of a fork and pull it through.  One sprig of fresh thyme = ½ teaspoon dried thyme.

  To dry thyme, just tie a bunch together and hang upside down in a cool dry place.  Then strip leaves, crush and place in small jar. 

Here is a great recipe for easy Herbed Biscuit Muffins using the wonderful herb---Thyme:

Ingredients:
·         Cooking oil spray
·         2 1/2 cups self-rising flour

·         1-1/2 teaspoons fresh sage (or favorite herb), chopped or 1/4 teaspoon dried sage

·         1-1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme (or favorite herb), chopped or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

·         1/3 cup mayonnaise

·         1 1/4 cups milk (or buttermilk)

·         Kosher salt-optional
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray nonstick a nonstick 12-cup muffin pan with vegetable oil.

Whisk sage and thyme
into the flour.

Using a large dinner fork, stir in the mayo
and milk until combined. Do not over mix.

Divide batter evenly into muffin cups. Sprinkle Kosher salt on top--optional

Bake in preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes for muffins, until golden.

These muffins are very good with chicken or pork and mix can be used as pot pie top crust. Yummy!


Yield: 12 servings

 

Hope you enjoy the Herbed Biscuit Muffins!

Blessings,

Lisa